VICE-CHAIRMAN Paul Oakes was pleased with the manner in which Fairfield Villa came from behind to beat local rivals Barnt Green Spartak over the weekend.
Villa were unlucky not to find themselves ahead early doors on Saturday as two good saves from Raghban Ali denied in-form Connor Collins from netting before the former Halesowen Town and Bromsgrove Sporting marksman fired wide.
However, an unfortunate mistake from the ever-reliable Chris Mole saw the goalkeeper juggle Nathaniel Hare’s cross into his own net to give the visitors a surprise half-time lead.
After the break Stuart Hall turned the game on its head with two close range finishes but failed to claim his hat-trick after missing a last-minute penalty which was well saved by Ali.
The victory moved Villa up to fourth in the Midland League Division Two table and with Scott Smith and namesakes Lewis and Ben all missing, Oakes was pleased to see his players dig deep to take all three points.
He said: “The scoreline was a little flattering on Spartak as we had more than enough chances prior to them going ahead to be three or four up.
“Chris has made a very uncharacteristic error which left us bewildered but fair play to the lads as they turned things around and it was a comfortable win in the end.
“Considering we had some of our key players missing we did well and we should have won by a bigger margin.”
Villa entertain Smithswood Firs on Saturday where a victory by more than six goals could send them top depending on results elsewhere.
And with Scott Smith expected to return to the starting line-up, Oakes is hopeful of a third league win in a row.
“We’ve only lost twice in the league this season but it’s a shame those defeats have come from having players missing which is expected at this level of football,” he said.
“The players have been working hard in the last few games and if we win on Saturday we are more than capable of going on a winning run.”
